


Sex is not the Enemy

by writeaddict



Category: Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Asexual Tony, Fluff and Angst, Multi, Tony Feels, and all that good stuff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-10-16
Updated: 2013-10-16
Packaged: 2017-12-29 14:35:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1006557
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writeaddict/pseuds/writeaddict
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I read a fic where Tony had a bad reaction to one of his teammates being asexual and felt compelled to write this in response. Asexual Tony and how all his teammates deal with it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sex is not the Enemy

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Coming In](https://archiveofourown.org/works/663876) by [Arkada](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arkada/pseuds/Arkada). 



Sex is not the Enemy- Chapter 1

Tony watches the end of the world. Not fire or ice but smothering darkness. He watches the creatures in the silence that you’re never supposed to see and drowns in the screams of broken things. He watches the stuff of dreams and nightmares; the things that haunt under beds and in closets become a much worse, unbearable reality. He reaches the limits of his imagination and [teeters] drags beyond it. He touches a wail, breathes it in, and can’t tell whom it belongs to. Can’t tell if it belongs to him.

He breaks and then he falls. Into madness, into beings writhing in the shadows. Into blue.

He wakes up to a different sort of howl and green eyes. He’s grateful. But it doesn’t mean he’s forgotten. It never has.

They creep up on the edges of his vision, hide in his arc reactor but are never there when he looks directly. Tony doesn’t know if that’s worse. He finds comfort, realness, in skin.

He changes. Not too much to be noticeable to the others– did they ever really know him anyway?–but he knows the full extent. He knows that his heart isn’t in it anymore even while he knows that a more dedicated person than him couldn’t be found. So he changes, becomes a bit more of what everyone needs him to be. Finds comfort in the avenger’s skin, in Pepper, in Rhodey and is there anything else? He finds comfort in them and lets them use him. He figures it’s a fair enough price to pay.

With the captain– Steve– it’s about control. About getting Tony to follow the commands he never quite does while they’re in battle. It’s about a different sort of power and ownership. It’s about penetration, even if Steve mistakes it for love. And honestly, Tony finds him the easiest. He doesn’t have to pretend with him; Tony lies in different ways with his body, with distractions, and with avoidance. Steve’s never known him well enough to tell.

With Natasha it’s more about stress relief. He doesn’t have to pretend with her and he sees her the least. There’s more of a disconnect with her. Every time he sees her he remember a lie: Natalia, the scent of roses, and a needle in his neck. Those roses are burning now just like everything else around him. He thinks she remembers too. With Natasha it’s easiest for her because there have always been other guys on the team that she could have a more enjoyable time with. He takes into account that she tries.

He thinks Clint might be the most like him. And someone else might think that because of that they’d get along the least but it’s the complete opposite. Clint might be his second favourite. Because with Clint it’s not just about sex. It’s also about distractions. Clint knows what it’s like to be undone; to be driven beyond the point that you can bear and just left there. Clint knows what it’s like to question when things will end just because you don’t want to be stuck anymore. Clint knows what it’s like to not be able to unsee something, even more than the others. And when Tony can’t get it up but can’t bring himself not to touch, Clint has a look of terrible understanding in his eyes but still lets him. So with Clint Tony doesn’t hide.

Thor doesn’t understand but he accepts it. He accepts Tony’s affection and touches like they’re his right. And they just might be. Thor is simple even as he’s alien and if he wants something he states it. Thor’s like a giant heater and Tony’s been stuck in cold desert nights for so long. Thor is easy to please and he doesn’t question when Tony’s not all the way there with him. Thor, even though he’s a prince, knows something about being alone and having to fight your demons.

He relates the most to Bruce because Bruce does not have sex. Bruce and the Hulk are his favourite because they’re touch starved and they like to watch. And while with Tony there is nothing to watch, Bruce has never rejected his touch. And that’s all it has to be. There a comfort in knowing that it will never go further than that. With Bruce there are no lies of omission because there isn’t even a question. In return he tries to help Bruce strut and shows unwavering faith in him and the Other Guy. Because Bruce is like a rock. But even Tony knows that there are some debts you can’t pay back. 

Pepper has always been amazing. But then, she’s known the longest. And like every other crazy, manic thing about Tony, she’s just accepted it. They don’t make them like Pepper Potts. No one else, except maybe Rhodey, will put up with him as much as she does. 

Rhodey has always suspected but Tony’s never confirmed it for him. Tony hasn’t ever really denied it either though so maybe that’s all Rhodey’s needed to know. Rhodey has known him the longest and he might have a slight advantage because of that– Tony has always believed in rewarding the people that really have to put up with him, he knows how difficult he can be. Rhodey’s always been something between a buffer and a knight in shining armor after he suspected. Tony’s really grateful for him because he made university a lot easier and even now people suspect they’re more than friends. Rhodey put his career on the line for him; that might have something to do with why Tony let him take that Iron Man suit.

Tony opens his fingers and sees them all spread before him and wishes he could be more. For them and for him. For the distraction and the completeness. But he never will be and there are better and worse distractions. Alcohol, sweet and burning, has never betrayed him. And there is something about the purity of their touch, and knowing that he can never take that further and that it will never be complicated, that he wouldn’t give up for the world. He’s had the world, and having it has never done him any favours.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you guys enjoy. Please leave a review to let me know what you think.


End file.
